1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to interaction with a community of individuals, relating to treatment regimen compliance and efficacy, including supply and use of pharmaceuticals.
2. Related Art
When medical personnel prescribe treatment regimens for patients or “patients” undertake non-prescription treatment regimens (whether such regimens are prescribed or undertaken for medication, physical therapy, psychological therapy, self-improvement, or other purposes), a problem can arise in assuring that the patients comply with the requirements of the treatment regimen. For example, some patients are disorganized, forgetful, or simply unwilling to comply. When the treatment regimen has potential side effects, or when the treatment regimen is to be followed under stated conditions (for example: taking medicine with meals, not with alcohol, or in the evening), patient compliance can be relatively reduced even further. When the treatment regimen is relatively complex, some patients are even unable or unwilling to manage that treatment regimen.
Known methods for monitoring and controlling treatment regimens are relatively costly and limited in capability. Some known methods are described in the following patents:    U.S. Pat. No. 5,408,443, “Programmable Medication Dispensing System,” issued Apr. 18, 1995 in the name of Edward D. Weinberger.    U.S. Pat. No. 5,642,731, “Method of and Apparatus for Monitoring the Management of Disease,” issued Jul. 1, 1997 in the name of Bruce A. Kehr.    U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,235, “Electronic Medication Monitoring and Dispensing Method,” issued May 12, 1998 in the name of Bruce A. Kehr, et al.
While these known methods generally achieve the goal of monitoring and controlling a treatment regimen, particularly a medication regimen, they suffer from several drawbacks and limitations.
First, there is a need to provide a portable system to monitor and encourage compliance, and facilitate data collection, so that patients are restricted as little as possible regarding their activities and movements.
Second, there is a need to determine if patients are actually complying with treatment regimens at times when the patients are relatively remote to client devices for the system. Known methods do not provide adequate feedback to determine whether patients are complying with the treatment regimen unless they remain relatively local to client devices.
Third, there is a need to determine whether treatment regimens have the desired and intended effects. Known methods do not provide adequate feedback to determine whether treatment regimens are effective, or whether patients are suffering any untoward side effects. Using known methods, medical personnel must generally wait for patients to complain, or for medical tests to show, that prescribed treatment regimens are inadequate or are producing side effects. Similarly, using known methods, patients undertaking non-prescribed treatment regimens generally do not have effective or convenient systems to monitor and record whether non-prescribed treatment regimens are producing intended results.
Fourth, there is a need to inform patients to follow treatment regimens, particularly when patients are forgetful or treatment regimens are complex. Although known methods do include reminders to patients, it would be advantageous to tailor those reminders to patients' actual compliance history (thus, providing fewer reminders when they are relatively less necessary and more reminders when they are relatively more necessary).
Fifth, there is a need to leverage expert knowledge to improve response to feedback from patients, and to reduce the time and expense required for medical personnel to individually monitor, evaluate and modify treatment regimens.
Sixth, there is a need to broaden application of reminder and expert knowledge leveraging systems beyond medication regimens, to include physical, psychological, self-improvement and other treatment regimens.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to provide a portable device that can be coupled and uncoupled to a communication system with feedback to monitor patient compliance with, and effectiveness of, treatment regimens, so that input from patients regarding treatment regimens can be recorded, reviewed, analyzed and otherwise generally acted upon. Medical personnel and/or patients can thus (1) monitor compliance with treatment regimens, (2) monitor effectiveness or side effects of treatment regimens, (3) remind patients no more than necessary, and (4) possibly alter treatment regimens in response to feedback from patients. These advantages are achieved in embodiments of the invention in which a portable device is intermittently coupled to a client device in a client-server system, the patient enters information to the portable device about following the treatment regimen while the portable device is uncoupled, and medical personnel or the patient can receive that information and possibly alter the behavior of the portable device when the portable device is re-coupled to the system.